Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much. I appreciate the indulgence of the chamber. I wanted to rise to oppose this particular tranche of changes, particularly subparagraph (f) on the issue of Tuesday nights open-ended adjournment. I think it is a very valuable, and has proven to be a valuable, outlet for senators to express their views on a whole range of issues. I am very disappointed to hear that it is being pushed through over a long period of time. I think it is fundamentally against the interests of the chamber to adopt this. Senators should have the opportunity to speak on adjournment. I think it is a joke to suggest that we have an open-ended adjournment on a Thursday night that is the equal. Many of us have families that we have to return to, and catch planes on a Thursday night. The whole point of Tuesday night is to allow us all to have an equal opportunity. I rarely take the opportunity to speak on adjournment but I actually believe that senators are entitled. We have one opportunity on a Tuesday evening, traditionally.